


Flowers on the Night Sky

by maplestreet83



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: El seeing fireworks for the first time, F/M, summer of 1985
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-05-02 06:12:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14538423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maplestreet83/pseuds/maplestreet83
Summary: El has only ever seen fireworks on the tv screen before. That is until the Maple Street neighborhood Fourth of July party.





	Flowers on the Night Sky

The busy and warm day was quieting down, the heat lowering to a gentle summer night breeze that swayed the blades of grass on the Wheeler’s front lawn, tickling El’s bare legs as she sat down on it, her legs crossed. Will and Dustin were sitting next to her, passing a crinkly bag of chips between them as they talked, enthusiastically explaining to El what was about to happen.

“They have a competition every year about who has the best and biggest fireworks,” Dustin said, cramming a handful of chips into his mouth before handing it over to El, who took it without looking, keeping her eyes on the group of people gathered at the end of the cul-de-sac.

“Yeah, Mr. Collins usually has the best ones cause some relative of his works at a fireworks distributor company,” Will continued, fiddling with a blade of grass in his hands.

“But that doesn’t stop Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Sinclair from trying to top him each year,” Dustin said with a roll of his eyes and a smirk, wiping his greasy hands on his shorts.

“Why?” El asked after taking a handful of chips and passing the bag to Will. She had seen fireworks on tv before, during the new year’s broadcast, and she didn’t know why the bright and beautiful bursts of color would be something to compete over.

“Who knows,” Will answered with a shrug. “I guess it’s one of those things adults compete about.” El settled for that answer for now, unfolding her legs and straightening them right up in front of her. They had been sitting for a while, waiting as everyone else was huddled in groups, setting up the fireworks. Lucas had been excited to help his dad set up, taking Max with him to help him and El could see her standing by Mr. Sinclair, as Lucas took paces, measuring that the fireworks were set up at a safe distance from the Collins’s front yard. Mike hadn’t seemed very enthusiastic to help set up, but his dad had dragged him along anyway and he was now standing by awkwardly, his leg bouncing as he held onto the extra box of matches as his dad checked the rockets were set up securely. El caught his eye from across the way and he gave her a small, frustrated and apologetic smile. She answered the smile with one of her own, taking the bag of chips Will handed back to her as Mr. Wheeler said something to Mike, drawing his attention back to the task at hand.

“You excited about your first ever fireworks, El?” Dustin asked as she handed him the chips.

“Yes,” El answered, but she couldn’t help the feeling of unease in her stomach. “But I’m nervous too.”

“It’ll be fine,” Will told her, turning to her with a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, they’re launching them from all the way over there, so we’ll be fine. But it’s gonna be loud though,” Dustin explained, pointing his finger in the direction of the group of neighbors gathered around.

“Loud? Like thunder?” El asked, scrunching her face in confusion. When she had seen the fireworks on tv the sound had been off as Hopper had fallen asleep on the couch next to her before midnight, a consequence of him working the night shift the day before. She hadn’t known they made loud sounds.

“No, not like thunder, more like…” Dustin said, trailing off as he tried to think of a way to describe them.

“Like explosions?” Will suggested, bringing his knees up and leaning his arms on them. El’s eyes went wide.

“Explosions? Like guns?” Even though it had been months and months since last encountering any, the gunshots echoing along empty school hallways and ricocheting from the sides of Kali’s van still sometimes haunted her dreams, making her wake up in a cold sweat.

“Oh, no, not like guns, I mean yeah it’s loud but - but it’s not like that,” Dustin hurried to answer, waving his arms around dismissively. El turned her head down, looking down at her hands she had started to worry in her lap. When Mike had told her about Fourth of July traditions over the supercom last week, she had been excited about all the decorations and food eaten outside in the Wheeler’s backyard, but most of all for seeing the colorful fireworks in person for the first time. Now she was getting anxious, the sounds of gunshots echoing around in her mind. Will turned to her, gently setting his hand on her shoulder, and asking with a calm voice if she was okay. Before El could answer him though, there were excited voices and footsteps coming toward them across the pavement and Max and Lucas came over to them.

“Got any chips left?” Max asked as she swiftly sat herself down next to Dustin, grabbing the bag from him. Peering inside she exclaimed as Lucas sat down beside her: “Damn you guys, these were supposed to last for the whole fireworks show!”

“Oh come on it’s not like one of those huge displays you have down in Disneyland, won’t have much time for the snacks,” Dustin countered and Max just huffed before grabbing a handful of chips before handing the bag over to Lucas. Some of the other neighbors also started to walk over to the lawn that was apparently the traditional viewing spot for the annual fireworks. Mrs. Wheeler was laughing animatedly as she chatted with one of the neighbors, Mrs. Sinclair talking to Erica who was still upset that she hadn’t gotten to be the one to light up the fuse.

“You get to do that when you’re older, honey,” Mrs. Sinclair assured her as they walked over, sitting down on one of the lawn chairs that had been set up.

“But Lucas got to do it when he was the same age as me!” Erica argued, coming over to snatch the bag of chips from his hands.

“Not true,” Lucas pointed out, reaching over to get the chips back but his sister was faster, climbing over to sit on a chair next to her mom.

“I only got to do it last year, and as you can tell it wasn’t that exciting cause I’m not doing it this year. You aren’t missing much,” Lucas added, trying to end the argument.

“Nah, you just want to sit and watch the fireworks with your _girlfriend_ ,” Erica said, making obnoxious smooching noises. Max let out a chuckle but Lucas groaned, getting up and starting to chase Erica across the lawn, demanding to get the chips back. Max jumped up after him but joined Erica’s side as they tossed the crumbled-up bag of chips between them, trying to keep them out of reach from Lucas. El watched as Lucas loudly proclaimed that this wasn’t fair, calling Dustin to come and help him out. With an adjustment of his baseball cap the curly haired boy got up, announcing that “You’ll owe me one after this, dude!” 

Will laughed at it all but El didn’t join his laughter, anxiety still bubbling in her stomach as she turned to look to where the fireworks were set up, only Mr. and Mrs. Collins, Mr. Sinclair and Mike and his dad remaining there, getting ready to light them up. But even from a distance, El could see that something was going on between Mike and his dad. She squinted her eyes to see better through the darkness of the summer night, and she could just see Mr. Wheeler gesturing strongly with his hands and Mike throwing his head back in annoyance (a gesture she was well familiar with), before handing over the matchbox to his dad and turning to stomp away towards the others, sticking his hands to the pockets of his navy-blue hoodie. When he got within a viewing distance from everyone, his face shifted from annoyance to a cheery smile.

“Are you ready for the fireworks, El?” he asked, sitting down next to her. El hummed and nodded before turning her face down, plucking at the fabric of her floral shorts. Mike furrowed his brow in worry, looking over at Will for an explanation.

“It’s the noise,” he whispered in a low and calm voice. “She didn’t know it was gonna be that loud.”

“Oh,” Mike said, his voice filled with worry and understanding as she shifted closer to El, gingerly taking one of her fidgeting hands in his.

“It’s going to be okay. It’ll be loud, but you can always cover your ears, that helps a bit,” he explained, the tone of his voice familiar and soft, like it always was as he explained things to her, as he studied her hand in his, running his thumb over the lines of her palm.

“Yeah?” El asked, turning her face up to look at him, feeling her nerves slowly dissipating but still there.

“And if it’s too much, we can go inside, watch them from the window,” Will suggested, pointing back at the house behind them. El pressed her lips together in a straight line. This summer had been a time for her to go out in to the world and experience it for herself. She was done watching from windows as life passed her by.

“No, I’ll stay here. With everyone,” she concluded, her eyes resolute as she looked first at Will, then Mike and then all the people settling to stand and sit around them, chatting excitedly.

“Okay,” Mike answered with a nod, still holding onto her hand. “But if it gets to be too much, just tell me and we can go inside. We can go to the basement and take a minute to breathe. Plus I’m sure there are still some snacks left back there.”

“Oh, crap!” Will quickly exclaimed, his posture straightening up as a realization dawned on his face. “I promised mom and Jonathan I’d film the fireworks with the JVC, I have to go and grab it from the basement!” And with a quick ‘be right back!’ he scrambled up and started to run across the lawn back to the house, passing Lucas who currently had Erica clinging onto his back, furiously trying to reach the bag of chips he was holding high above him.

There was a beat of silence between the two of them, before El spoke:

“Everything okay?” Mike let out a breath, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

“Yeah, my dad’s just being… well my dad,” he answered, gesturing vaguely in his direction.

“He always drags me with him to set up the fireworks, but when I go with him, he never listens to me if I suggest he do something different. Maybe he thinks it’s some kind of father-son bonding thing cause he insists we do it every year but I don’t know… I just think he feels like he has to do it cause Lucas is always helping his dad and Daren, the Collins’ son helped his dad out too before he went off to college. And I don’t know how to tell him I don’t really like doing it, cause he’s still my dad and all and everyone’s watching and I don’t want to make a scene or anything, but…” he rambled, his voice getting tense as he absentmindedly ripped pieces of grass from the ground.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to… It’s no big deal. Just… frustrating I guess,” Mike apologized, his eyes fleeting over to where his dad was and then back to El.

“It’s okay. I understand,” she said, her voice sincere, squeezing his hand tighter with hers.

“But maybe you should talk to him. Later,” she added, and Mike nodded, looking down at their intertwined fingers, hers tan from the summer sun, his pale with faint orange stains from the popsicles they’d had earlier. There was another silence, a comfortable one, as a breeze flew through the yard, causing El to shiver and tuck her bare legs under her.

“Are you cold?” Mike hurried to ask and when El answered with a nod, pulling down on the short sleeves of her t-shirt, he turned to look back at the house.

“Shit we could’ve asked Will to bring your sweater from the basement…But we can still go and get it for you?”

“No, it’s okay. I want to see the fireworks,” El answered, pointing to the cul-de-sac where Mr. Sinclair was yelling to inform everyone that the first set fireworks was about to go off.

“Yeah, of course, um…” Mike mumbled, frantically looking around, trying to think of a solution.

“Here,” he finally said, pulling his hand away from hers as he leaned back, taking of his hoodie and reaching out to drape it over her shoulders.

“Now you’ll be cold,” El protested, although faintly as she secretly loved it when Mike would let her borrow his clothes. They were always soft and smelled citrusy like the rest of the Wheeler house, and they were always warm.

“Oh it’s fine. We’ll all go back inside after the fireworks anyway,” he assured her, setting the material of the hoodie better around her shoulder, his arm lingering there, wrapped around her comfortably.

“Okay,” El said, her voice soft and calm, the anxiety from earlier fading away, replaced by the familiar butterflies of being this close to Mike. She looked up, a smile creeping on her face as she realized how close he was, his face slightly flushed as his eyes darted down to her lips.

But before she could close the gap between them, there was a loud whizzing sound that startled them, causing them to jump apart a bit. El’s eyes were wide as she followed the bright stream of light as it zoomed skywards with a whistle. Mike clambered to reach for her hands, clamping them over her ears. And then the firework exploded, in a burst of bright red and green and gold, the noise, although muffled, ringing in El’s ears and causing a swooping feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was distantly aware that Will, Lucas, Dustin, and Max were back, quickly settling to sit beside them, all cheering and whooping as the rockets kept on launching to the sky, filling it with flickering sparks, streams of gold and blue and red stretching across the inky night sky like giant flowers. And all El could do was stare, her jaw slacked, mouth open in awe, her anxiety and the world around her fading away. But Dustin had been right, and the first set of fireworks didn’t last that long and soon the last of them settled down, sparkling as they faded and fell towards the ground. For a moment El was left stunned, blinking her eyes, before she felt Mike take his hands away from covering her ears, the full sounds of the world flooding back to her.

“Way to go dad! I told you that blue one was gonna be awesome!” Lucas yelled happily, Max beside him lifting two thumbs up to Mr. Sinclair. There were applauds from the crowd behind them and a whooping holler from Dustin and El swiveled her head around, still at a loss for words.

“Well? Was it okay? Do you want to go inside for the next one?” Mike asked, concern in his voice as El’s eyes landed on him.

“Yeah, did you like it? Was it like you had imagined?” Max asked excitedly.

“We started with the best of the best, just for you, El. Just don’t be let down if the next ones aren’t as great as ours,” Lucas explained with a grin, Mike shoving him in the side with his elbow. The whole party leaned closer to El, waiting to hear her reaction and she just looked around, still stunned, opening and closing her mouth to find a word to describe the feeling of wonder, elation and happiness she was feeling.

“It was astonishing,” she finally got out, and there are wide smiles on all the faces around her, Dustin coming over and hugging her from behind.

“I know, they’re pretty cool,” Will confirmed with a smile, locking eyes with Mike, relief on both of their faces.

“Astonishing? You are watching way too much ‘All My Children’ El,” Max pointed out with a wide smile.

“I wouldn’t be the one to talk, miss ‘presumptuous’,” Dustin said, leaning away from the hug, his comment resulting in Max yanking the peak of his cap down in front of his eyes. There was laughter from everyone as they settled into their usual banter and light chatter, as they waited for Mr. Collins set up the next set of fireworks. El took the time to properly put on the blue hoodie, putting her arms through the sleeves and zipping up the zipper. When she was done, she glanced over at Mike, who she now noticed had been looking at her, a faint and sheepish smile on his face.

“What is it?” she asked, her face crinkling up in amusement as she bunched up the too long sleeves of the hoodie.

“Oh, nothing,” he answered, the smile still on his face as she looked down, fiddling with his calculator watch.

“Just happy that you liked it. That it wasn’t scary,” he added, turning to look at her again.

“It wasn’t. Because you helped me,” El stated, her voice soft and thankful, her hand instinctively moving to find his again, their pinky fingers twining together.

And after a few yells from Mr. Collins, everyone got ready for the next round of fireworks, El excitedly tugging Mike’s hands up to cover her ears again. But after the first few bursts of sounds and colors, El found herself turning to face Mike, gently placing her hand around his wrist to tug him closer. He happily obliged, their lips meeting as his hands slowly lowered from her ears to gently cup her cheeks, the sounds bursting out to full volume, the tremor of the explosions mixing with the butterflies in her stomach. And when Mike pulled away, El was sure his face was brighter than any of the fireworks illuminating the sky above them.


End file.
